This year I turned 60, the first starting with a “6”. This means that it’s now only five years (or so…) until I reach retirement age, though it doesn’t seem long ago that the prospect of reaching retirement age was unimaginable because it seemed so very far in the future. In truth, it’s still pretty unimaginable, but I’m slowly getting used to the idea. Maybe by the time I get there I’ll be ready. But, then, I thought I’d be ready for 60 by now, and that didn’t quite go the way I’d hoped.

This birthday was actually pretty anti-climactic: After all the build-up, contemplation, and, yes, dread, when the clock ticked over—nothing. It’s not like I actually expected something to happen, it’s just that nothing was any different than it was at 11:59pm. I amused myself thinking things like, “this is the first time I’m loading the dishwasher in my 60s,” or “this is the first time I’m brushing my teeth in my 60s,” but, fortunately, I got over that pretty quickly. Those sorts of things were true in previous decades, but it never occurred to me until this time, so maybe that was the something.

My birthday party is on Sunday (the next day, Monday, is a public holiday), and we’ll be having family staying with us, so there were things that needed to be done. I originally said I wasn’t going to do anything today—that is, no work—but there were those things that needed to be done. Nigel did most of the stuff, but I did the bits and pieces I needed to do.

Because of the party coming up, we didn’t really do anything special today. Nigel made us lunch, using fresh tomatoes from our garden, and we had takeaways for dinner. Even though we had a lot to get through today, we nevertheless both also found time to focus on stuff we wanted to do.

Today ended up being low-key, making it a nice and relaxing day. That’s why those little chores that needed doing weren’t any sort of burden.

It turns out that turning 60 was no big deal. That doesn’t mean I’m used to it, but neither was I ever going to be upset by it. It is what it is. I have no idea what to expect from this decade, so I have a strong incentive to keep blogging and podcasting as I find out what happens next. Let’s see what this is all about.

And that’s it for this year’s birthday, apart from the party, of course. 60, huh? So far, so good.

A post shared by arthur_amerinz (@arthur_amerinz) on Jan 20, 2019 at 10:23pm PST

The Illinois Route 60 sign is a public domain graphic available from Wikimedia Commons. The road goes from the Illinois Tollway toward the town where I lived until university. It passes the mall, then called Hawthorn Center, where I spent a lot of time as a teen. The U.S. Route 60 sign is a public domain graphic , which is also available from Wikimedia Commons. I don’t know if I ever drove on that road, but I may have when I was in university and made a trip to the southernmost tippy-tip of Illinois and crossed into Kentucky.